Brent Morrice knows what it will take for Canada to win a ski jumping medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"Two jumps that just shock everyone — and that can happen," says Morrice, the chairman of Ski Jumping Canada. "If that happens, we'll be ecstatic."

However, Morrice acknowledges that a perfect storm will be required for Canada to ascend to the podium for the first time. The most realistic aspiration is for one of Canada's four ski jumpers — Stefan Read, Trevor Morrice (Brent's son), Mackenzie Boyd-Clowes and Eric Mitchell — to crack the top 20 in the individual large hill or normal hill events in Whistler, B.C.

At 22, Read is the veteran of the Canadian quartet, and the only member of that group with Olympic experience. He was 30th on the large hill and 42nd on the normal hill four years ago in Turin, Italy.

Read's teammates are teenagers. Boyd-Clowes and Trevor Morrice are 18. Mitchell, at 17, is the youngest male who will compete for Canada in any Olympic sport this year.

Experience, or lack thereof, is a factor. Funding is also a consideration.

Ski Jumping Canada, with a budget between $150,000 and $180,000, receives minimal funding. A ski jumping powerhouse such as Austria boasts 10 times that amount of funding.

Ski Jumping Canada falls outside the Own The Podium funding criteria because it has not attained prescribed levels at international competitions. Funding would kick in if a Canadian ski jumper were to place in the top 16 at a world championship or the top 12 at a World Cup event.

With those considerations in mind, Brent Morrice is striving to balance optimism and realism.

"With a top-20 finish we, as an organization, would be really happy," Morrice says. "That's kind of what the athletes think, too. We were top-30 in the last Olympics and we want to get better. It is on our home hill and the guys like competing there, so who knows what will happen?

"At the same time, we don't want to get our expectations too high because it is a building year. We'd like to keep the team together for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia."

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